THE BOTTOM LINE: A gritty Depression-era musical with Broadway potential.

FEW KINDS OF CIVIC BETTERMENT have enjoyed wider approval than the regional nonprofit theater movement. But the acclaim has tended to obscure three dirty little secrets. First, many of these institutions have been afflicted with an edifice complex, caring more about glistening facilities than about what goes on inside them. Second, the regional houses have been loath to risk developing new plays and, even more, new musicals. Third, at many...